The Top Xbox 360 games we want to play on Xbox One

Microsoft has finally announced the first 104 Xbox 360 games that will be backwards compatible on Xbox One. While that sounds like a lot of games, it's really only a drop in the bucket compared to the Xbox 360's overall library of over 1,700 titles. As such, many popular and fan-requested titles naturally won't be backwards compatible when the feature launches on November 12th. In fact, many of the top 20 most-requested games are not on the launch list!

Don't despair, though, Xbox One owners. We know that Microsoft will make more games backwards compatible in the future. Still, the uncertainty of which Xbox 360 titles will be playable on the Xbox One haunts some of us to our very cores. So read on to find out which games each member of the Windows Central staff most wants to become backwards compatible!

Paul Acevedo

Catherine from Atlus:

The Xbox 360 has its fair share of quirky Japanese games, something almost entirely absent from the Xbox One lineup so far. Of those wacky but interesting titles, Catherine is the one I'd most like to play. Catherine's art, premise, and even gameplay are highly unique.

The game stars Vincent, a man who becomes involved with two women: his girlfriend Katherine and the mysterious Catherine. Vincent soon begins to have nightmares that threaten to kill him if he can't uncover their source. The gameplay mixes adventure elements and extensive character conversations with challenging puzzle-platforming segments that take place in the nightmare realm.

Intriguing nature aside, Catherine also went on sale for quite cheap recently. I'm sure many gamers who picked it up would like to play it on their Xbox Ones.

Earth Defense Force 2025 from Sandlot and D3 Publisher:

The second game in the EDF series was easily the best, at least until an enhanced version came along for PlayStation 4. This series enjoys a simple but fun premise: armies of giant insects, monsters, and robots threaten the earth. Only the heroic Earth Defense Force can stop them.

Players will select from four distinct characters (the all-around Ranger, the support-oriented Air Raider, the flying Wing Diver, and the slow but powerful Fencer) and battle the alien menace across more than 80 levels. Not only do hordes of enemies swarm the screen, but nearly every building is completely destructible. Half the fun comes from leveling the cities you're sent to save.

EDF 2025 is also a grinding fan's dream game. Each character has dozens of weapons to collect via random drops, and you're encouraged to beat every level on five difficulty levels to build up and find more stuff. With 2-player split-screen and 4-player online co-op, EDF 2025 is still one of my favorite Xbox 360 games. Plus it's cheap on Amazon!

FFXIII made headlines when it launched on Xbox 360 in addition to PlayStation 3. The 360 version had to come on three DVD-ROMs due to its massive size and abundance of FMV movie sequences. Unfortunately, the Xbox version's FMV, graphics, and sound suffered a slight downgrade due to the smaller storage capacity of DVDs compared to Blu-rays. But I'm here to tell you that stuff doesn't matter; it still looks and sounds great, even today.

The thirteenth Final Fantasy is somewhat maligned for its story, area design, and battle system. I have to admit, the story is incomprehensible at times. Characters seem to talk a_t each other instead of _to each other, lessening the drama. And the map designs really are very simplistic compared to other RPGs. But the combat system actually makes battles speedy and fun, with players switching each character's roles on the fly as battle conditions change. The upgrade system is creative and fun too.

It might not be the best Final Fantasy game, but FFXIII is still a huge and beautiful game. Patient gamers who stick around past the slow opening hours will find a lot to enjoy. Plus the Xbox One needs all the JRPGs it can get!

Forza Horizon from Microsoft:

Xbox One already has Forza Horizon 2, one of my all-time favorite racing games. But once you beat Horizon 2 and all of its DLC, you're likely going to long for more of that racing goodness. The first Horizon would fill that gap nicely. It shares much of the same DNA as Horizon 2, but both games differ in several key ways.

For starters, the first Horizon takes place in Colorado, USA rather than Europe. Neither location is better than the other, but they complement each other nicely. Horizon also has a much more street racing vibe than its successor, complete with underground-themed races that pay out handsomely in credits. And the first Horizon offers five car-specific challenges for every single car in the game. These mini-objectives give you lots of fun things to do between races.

Forza Horizon also looks pretty good despite its age. My one complaint is that the in-game radio DJs are total nobs. But I still play Horizon to this day, and hopefully Xbox One owners will eventually get that same opportunity as well.

The Witcher 2 from CD Projekt Red:

The Witcher 3 is here, and it's one of the best action-role-playing games of all time. It completely crushes the first two games in the series, not to mention most other RPGs. But I can see a lot of gamers who become enthralled with protagonist Geralt and his exploits wanting to learn more about the events preceding Witcher 3.

Luckily Witcher 2 still holds up fairly well, even if it lacks the massive open world of the third game. The story of Geralt and his friends is just as fascinating in Witcher 2 as in part 3, with lots of interesting sidequests, drama, and mature moments. And players will make meaningful choices that affect the outcome of the game, just as in Witcher 3.

The Witcher 2 sets Geralt on a much narrower course than an open-world game would, with the areas that he can visit limited by the current chapter of the story. And the combat is a bit clunky. But anyone who has spent time with Witcher 3 should be able to ease into this one without much trouble.

Hopefully fans of the Witcher will get a chance to explore this portion of Geralt's life on their Xbox Ones sooner rather than later.

More Windows Central staff picks

Left 4 Dead 2

John Callaham

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 from Activision

Grand Theft Auto IV from Rockstar and 2K

Left 4 Dead 2 from Valve

Portal 2 from Valve

Red Dead Redemption from Rockstar and 2K

Jez Corden

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim from Bethesda

Fallout New Vegas from Obsidian and Bethesda

Mass Effect 2 from Bioware and Electronic Arts

Mass Effect 3 from Bioware and Electronic Arts

XCOM from Firaxis and 2K

Richard Devine

Batman: Arkham Asylum from Rocksteady and Warner Bros

Grand Theft Auto IV from Rockstar and 2K

Homefront from THQ (now owned by Deep Silver)

Project Gotham Racing 4 from Bizarre Creations and Microsoft

Red Dead Redemption (and Undead Nightmare) from Rockstar and 2K

Jonathan Dollison

Alan Wake from Remedy and Microsoft

Battlefield Bad Company 2 from Electronic Arts

Dead Space from Visceral and Electronic Arts

Portal 2 from Valve

Splinter Cell: Conviction from Ubisoft

Hitman Absolution

Mark Guim

Hitman series from Square-Enix

George Ponder

NCAA Football series from Electronic Arts

Honorable mention

It didn't make it into our lists, but one early XBLA title maintains a small but loyal following that simply can't be denied. That game is UNO from Carbonated Games and Microsoft.

The original UNO offered a simple and accurate recreation of the classic card game that is totally not boring to play in real life. It only cost five bucks, and it even supported the Xbox 360's short-lived camera peripheral. Many gamers got their first looks at other nude people thanks to UNO, making it an important part of their life development.

When you get right down to it, UNO was great for relaxing with friends in party chat, and it only cost five bucks. Although Microsoft might not have the UNO license anymore, I know for a fact that loyal reader Sgt Torrente and many others would love to play it again on Xbox One.

Read Dead Redemption

What 360 games do you wish were backwards compatible?

How do you like our backwards compatibility, picks, guys, gals, and pals? Be sure to share your top five Xbox 360 games that you'd like to play on Xbox One as well!

I agree with Catherine, Read Dead Redemption and Mass Effect 2 and 3. I would also like to see the original Crackdown, the first two Batman Arkham games and one of the Virtua Tennis games make it over since the One doesn't have a tennis game yet.

Paul! Thanks for another great article. You really made me laugh when I got to the honorable mention part. It was surprisingly fun to mention. When I started reading the article, I had in mind "I will post...did you forget about UNO?" Honestly, there are many great games which definitively have been mentioned (and have been reminded of). I am glad MS is bringing this ability for us all. Definitively XB1 have had many impressive improvements which clearly makes it one of the top next Gen consoles. I am thrilled to see even more to come. Do you all remember what was first announced for Xbox 1 that later was retracted? Some of those would be just great to have. Are we all ready to next big steps? Thanks to MS for allowing us to be part of a preview program which definitively community has taken a very important part. Again Paul and WC...keep the good work!

Not so much backward compatable, but I'd love to see the original Arkham games all refreshed for the X1. Especially if they can make Origins not be buggy as crap.... Those are the only recent games that I have played all the way through...twice! I don't do that with anything else. I'm waiting for a GOTY edition of Arkham Knight before I but an X1. With a 3 yr old and a 5 mo old I don't have a lot of 360 time right now anyway, lol

CoD MW2. Come on Activision. No one wants to play this new CoD crap you guy are helping to put out each & every year like a sports game which gets worst everytime one comes out. Bring back the good ol CoD, MW2 hands down the best CoD EVER!!

Even if I can't get BC with the previous gen Kinect Party, can they release an updated version? Great party game for kids and keeps em entertained, off the couch and more active than their PE classes at school...

Having never owned a Xbox 360 (or any console of that generation), all of these games are new to me. I'll take any of them, including the 104 that have been announced. The Xbox One has given me access to a decade of gaming that I missed after leaving console gaming after the Dreamcast.

Sounds like me between the time of the Super Nintendo and the original Xbox. Didn't play any games after Super Nintendo until the first Halo game. Now I can't stop, lol! The whole PlayStation thing just passed me by. Although I did try the Dreamcast once and it was awesome!

Agree on Final Fantasy XIII and (maybe) its sequels! The story's actually pretty good, it was just poorly presented (whoever wrote the English version's script should be fired, as well as half the voice cast). But if you read the data logs after each cutscene and some of the inscriptions on the collectables, it definitely helps you understand what's happening. Anyone who's into dystopian fiction will like the story. Reminds me a little of Huxley's Brave New World

Star Ocean, Tales of Vesperia, Magna Carta 2, Enslaved, Infinite Undiscovery, Resonance of Fate, Eternal Sonata. Basically all of the JRPGs because the One is seriously lacking in them and most Western RPGs can't be played around kids.

The obvious answer is that some of us don't care about those games. For example, I want Street Fighter, Call of Duty, and Resident Evil games. That's the problem MS has of course... going to be impossible to please everybody...

Surprised Splosion Man is not on there. The Trials games would be a nice addition, and they were on that leaked list last week. Orange Box would be nice. I never bought it, but I feel that I owe it to myself to have another go at Half Life. Didn't like it the last time I played it, but I am happy to have another go. Battlefield Bad Company 2 would be sweet. On a partially connected note, I would love Re-Volt from the original Xbox. I must have played a 1000 hours of that on the Dreamcast, it was a staple for anyone visiting my flat around 1999. People still ask me about it. Ilomilo would be good for Mrs P, she loves the little puzzlers.

Funny, I just saw Catherine at GameStop a few days ago. Never heard of it, just saw the cover and went "WtF? Japan..." Of course it's a game the resident Avocado is into.

3 games I want: Reach, NFS: Most Wanted (the first), and NFS Carbon. I just want the whole Halo story on the One (bring Wars as well, I don't care), while NFS went off a steep cliff after Carbon, and I would like a nice arcade racer to play.

The graphics are the same. But you do have some of the current-gen features like screenshots, recording, and streaming. Also you don't need to have two consoles (provided the BC catalogue is enough for you).

A lot of people bought many games for the 360 and didn't wanna move to the xbox one because they would be losing them and would have to start a new collection of games. Backward compatibility solves that. Some people cant afford to buy both.

Oh man... my first stop if I were you would be Gears of War Ultimate Edition. You get GoW 1, 2, 3, and Judgement using backwards compatibilityif you buy it before the end of the year. That's an awful lot of awesome games for $40...

First of, you can take out of the way the 360 either it's in your living room or bedroom. Secondly its a selling point for those that aren't financially capable to afford another console. This is a huge push when you know you can trade in your 360 and get the extra features like streaming and recording while playing them on the Xbox one.
There are also some loading and texture streaming improvements depending on the game at hand.
Then you have the new controller if you like it. Still waiting for me elite xD

I would agree with you but I can't get myself playing it on a console. Those games are made for mods and better visuals than it offers on the older consoles. For me ofc... I game mostly on my Xbox too but that game had to be taken advantage to the extreme. And why I'm happy Bethesda brought mods already with Fallout 4!
Elder scrolls Next with mods for Xbox one is now mostly a given. GG! XD
THAT, I'll get on my console

Davis, it looks like there might be a typo in the email address on your account. Instead of "windows," I see "winfows." Unfortunately I can't change it. You might ask Daniel about it and see if he has that ability.